Health Insurance

The lawyer for state Rep. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, predicts that his suit against mandated contraceptive coverage will help launch an avalanche of court challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s provision requiring insurance companies to offer such benefits.

But first Wieland needs to persuade a federal appeals court to reinstate his case. A lower court had tossed it out.

For years in most states, Medicaid eligibility had been limited to disabled adults, seniors needing long-term care and very low-income parents with their children.

Then along came the Affordable Care Act. It was designed to grow health insurance coverage across the board. One of its tenets was to expand Medicaid coverage beyond the extremely poor and disabled to include all adults earning up to 138 percent of federal poverty levels.

But in 2012, the Supreme Court gave states the chance to opt out Medicaid expansion.

As of January 1st, the first Americans enrolled in health insurance via the Affordable Care Act began receiving coverage.

According to Professor Sidney Watson of the Saint Louis University Health Law Policy Center, a little more than 33,000 Missourians have signed up for plans through the federal Marketplace so far, leaving another 467,000 Missourians eligible to enroll. Almost 26,000 Missourians have enrolled in Medicaid.

“We think most of them are children,” Watson said. “Parents were going to the Marketplace and realizing their children were eligible.”

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Thinking of buying insurance through the exchange?

While you wait for programmers to fix the glitch-ridden sign-up system, grab a crib sheet and learn the terms that can help you make good decisions about coverage. Pay close attention to words like PPO, POS, deductible, co-payment, drug formulary and many more.

A deadline has been extended for some Illinois state retirees to submit certain health insurance documents because of the federal government shutdown.

Recipients of various state health insurance programs need to provide IRS documents by a late October deadline in order to prove that their dependents should still be eligible to receive state health insurance coverage. But as the federal shutdown drags on, the transcripts aren't being released by the IRS.

Flickr Creative Commons Users/Compiled By Kelsey Proud, St. Louis Public Radio

Starting on October 1, Missourians will be able to shop for health insurance through a new online marketplace. It’s one of the biggest changes in health insurance coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act.

But there’s still a lot of confusion about how the exchanges will work.

St. Louis Public Radio's Véronique LaCapra spoke with the Missouri Foundation for Health’s Ryan Barker to try to get some answers.

A new report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finds that average premiums in the new online health insurance marketplace opening Tuesday will be lower than expected in most states.

In Missouri, the average monthly insurance premium for a family of four making $50,000 a year will start at $72. That’s for the lowest level of coverage, after a tax credit.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Health policy analysts differ sharply on the conclusions of Wednesday's federal report, which says premiums in Missouri will be about 16 percent lower than previously projected for consumers eligible to buy their health insurance through the government-run marketplace or exchange on Oct. 1.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: The United Mine Workers of America were back in St. Louis Monday, rallying against Peabody Energy. The UMWA claims that Peabody created a spinoff company, Patriot Coal, that was designed to fail and saddled it with expenses including workers’ health insurance and pensions. When Patriot did in fact file for bankruptcy five years after its creation, 22,000 workers and retirees whose benefits had been reattributed to Patriot Coal lost those earned and negotiated benefits and joined the nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: About 525,000 Missouri residents will be eligible for premium tax credits to help them buy affordable health insurance, starting this fall, according to a study by Families USA. The number offers one answer to what happens if Missouri refuses to expand Medicaid. Some of those left without health coverage could conceivably get help under the exchange program.

Estimates in Families USA’s study are limited to individuals earning between 138 percent and 400 percent of poverty. But insurance exchange benefits can extend to individuals earning down to 100 percent of poverty.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Attorney General Chris Koster won’t appeal a federal court decision striking down a new state law that allows employers to exclude contraception, abortion or sterilization from insurance coverage.

Koster, a Democrat, asked the federal judge who wrote the decision to amend her ruling so that religious organizations could exclude contraceptive coverage if they’re exempt under federal law.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: While enjoying a plate of gravy and biscuits at Feller’s Family Restaurant last Friday morning in Willow Springs, Mo., Johnny Morgan energized the breakfast conversation with examples of what he regards as unwarranted government intrusion into people’s lives.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon:Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, is trying to step up the pressure on state Attorney General Chris Koster, when it comes to protecting a state law -- now in limbo -- that allows employers to avoid providing insurance coverage for certain procedures.

Jones announced Thursday that the state House will consider and pass a resolution next week urging Koster to appeal a St. Louis-based federal judge’s ruling that tossed out a 2012 law allowing employers to exclude insurance coverage for abortions, contraception or sterilization.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, is calling on state Attorney General Chris Koster to appeal last week’s court ruling that blocks provisions of a new state law that allows employers to exclude contraception, abortion or sterilization from insurance coverage.

Jones said in a statement Wednesday that Koster, a Democrat, must “immediately appeal this case and defend the rights of Missouri citizens by challenging the contraception mandate as unconstitutional. Missourians need to be protected from mandates that violate their religious beliefs.”

On November 6, 2012, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition E, which prohibited the Governor or any state agency from establishing or operating a state-based health insurance exchange without legislative or citizen approval.

The Affordable Care Act, however, moves on toward full implementation in 2014.

Host Don Marsh talked with Sidney Watson, Professor of Law at Saint Louis University’s Health Law Policy Center, and Ryan Barker, Director of Health Policy for the Missouri Foundation for Health.

A special committee of transportation officials is still reviewing the amount of money MoDOT workers and State Troopers pay for health insurance.

Most of the committee members are leaning towards a proposal from the Highway Patrol, which would have the state pay 60 percent of the cost and the individual employee or retiree 40 percent. Rudy Farber is chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. He says under the current system, the amount of coverage a worker pays varies based on numerous factors.

Missouri will not set up an online marketplace for health insurance by the year 2014.

Gov. Jay Nixon said Thursday his administration will inform the federal government that it won't be running a state-based health insurance exchange when they're due to begin under the federal health care law. That means that the federal government will step in to create an insurance exchange in Missouri.

Updated 4:15 p.m. Thursday: Carnahan will not appeal Judge Green's new language, saying Attorney General Chris Koster refused a request for further legal action, and the Secretary of State's office is not in a position to appeal on its own. A full version of today's developments can be found here.

Proposition E centers on the conditions for creating a health care exchange in Missouri; the language authorized by Carnahan read in part whether the law should “deny individuals, families and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care.” Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) called the language used by the Secretary of State unbelievably biased.

The language in question asks in part if the law should “deny individuals, families and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care.” Attorney Jay Kanzler represents Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) and a group of Republican legislative leaders who filed suit.

Missouri transportation officials are considering a proposal to restructure how much MoDOT workers and State Troopers pay for their life and health insurance.

Currently, the cost percentage varies, based on several individual factors. Rudolph Farber chairs the state Highways and Transportation Commission. He says the proposal they’re considering would have all employees pay the same percentage.